Visiting Artist - Dance

Lisa DeCato

4630 Lake Rd. West
Ashtabula, OH  44004
Phone: (216) 387-8725
Email: decato@lec.edu

My greatest pleasures as a dance artist/educator come during my time with students in the classroom or studio. I teach all my classes with creative explorations and self-discovery as the overriding objective. I want students to recognize they can be a part of dance as an art form in many active ways beyond just being an audience member. During my classes students are asked to learn to listen to their own creative voices, become engaged in problem solving, develop self-confidence and have a great time moving. With this philosophy as a guide, I see that students are motivated to create and realize the differences in each other's works. This allows for acceptance and connections to occur between students. It is through the process of discovery and open discussions that students are able to develop an awareness and appreciation for dance. I was on writing team for Dance Academic Content Standards and would be at ease using any of the standards or benchmarks to create a residency. In addition, I am very interested in working with the teaching staff to develop movement lessons for their own use after my departure. While I am comfortable teaching to specific curriculum needs, I also believe explorations of the elements of dance alone can assists students in their emotional, physical and cognitive learning. Through implicit learning students learn compositional structure, body awareness and can express their ideas without fear. I have done residencies focused on many areas such as environmental concerns, family history and world dance. With each residency my goals are always focused on creating a positive learning environment where students' self-concepts can flourish and grow.

As a working artist, I am co-director of the Dance/Theater Collective, a company interested in creating work based on issues that impact the quality of life in our society. I have a strong desire to create work that stimulates discussions and to work with other artists and scholars to create interdisciplinary and interactive projects. Most recently my work has been focused on the human body and how it is viewed in our society. I have created works, which includes non-dancers and dancers, and enjoy bringing communities together through movement. I believe everyone can dance and enjoy presenting all types of work, formal and informal, in a variety of venues.

I received my MFA from the Ohio State University and I am a Certified Movement Analyst through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of New York City. I am currently on the dance faculty at Lake Erie College. In addition to dance, I have studied other movement forms such as Pilates, Yoga and Tai Chi Chuan. I have been teaching, choreographing and performing since 1980 and I enjoy sharing my knowledge with students.